Tue. 1:21 p.m.: Convicted murderer sentenced to 44 years to life in Warren killing, kidnappings
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WARREN — Shawn Hope was sentenced to 44 years to life today for the December 2016 aggravated murder of John Paul Kellar and the kidnappings of Tabitha Powell and Alicia Binion from a Stephens Avenue NW, Warren, home.
Hope, 51, was found guilty on two counts of aggravated murder with firearm specifications, aggravated robbery with a firearm specification, two counts of kidnapping with firearm specifications, having weapons under disability because of a previous felony and tampering with evidence.
Kellar, 41, was shot twice in his Stephens Avenue home by Hope, who then kidnapped Kellar’s fiancee, Tabitha Powell, 23, and her roommate, Alicia Binion, 37. Powell was able to get away when Hope and Binion went into a gas station to get beer, and Hope and Binion then spent 10 days in Detroit at various drug houses, according to court testimony.
Trumbull County Common Pleas Judge Andrew Logan merged the two murder charges, sentencing Hope to 25 years to life on that, plus a mandatory additional three years on a specification that a gun was used in commission of a felony; five years for aggravated robbery, plus another three years on a gun specification; and five years for kidnapping, plus three years for using a firearm. The sentences are to run consecutively.
Hope also was sentenced to 36 months on the tampering with evidence charges, but they are to run concurrently with the other charges.
Hope was defiant during his sentencing, saying he was being discriminated against and was not allowed by his attorney to tell his side of the story.
Hope claimed he did not go into Kellar’s home with the idea shooting anyone, but stated he was defending himself.
Assistant county prosecutor Christopher Becker said that nothing in Hope’s actions indicated self-defense.